


Lightwoods, Good and Bad

by heartsdesire456



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Major Character Injury, Post-Season/Series 01, Protective Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 16:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7940749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Tell me a story.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Magnus looked down at Alec, where his head lay on a pillow on Magnus’s lap, and smiled faintly as he brushed Alec’s dark hair out of his big, brown eyes. One of their little routines they had established so far in their relationship was just this: Alec laying on Magnus’s lap and letting Magnus soothe away all the frustration and anxiety he had from his long day at the Institute.</i>
</p><p>After Jace is taken by Valentine, life for Alec gets very hard, but thankfully, he has Magnus there to help him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lightwoods, Good and Bad

**Author's Note:**

> Well that summary is super bad, BUT I'M IN A HURRY THE ELECTRICITY IS GOING IN OR OUT (Thanks Hermine) SORRY!

“Tell me a story.”

Magnus looked down at Alec, where his head lay on a pillow on Magnus’s lap, and smiled faintly as he brushed Alec’s dark hair out of his big, brown eyes. One of their little routines they had established so far in their relationship was just this: Alec laying on Magnus’s lap and letting Magnus soothe away all the frustration and anxiety he had from his long day at the Institute.

They had only been seeing each other for a few weeks, and it was still very tentative. Alec was still searching endlessly for his Parabatai and for Valentine, and with terrified clients who knew of Valentine’s rise, Magnus was busy often as well. One of the few indulgences they gave into was lazy nights where Alec came over and just flopped down across Magnus’s lap (or onto his chest if they were in bed) and let Magnus comfort him. 

Recently, Magnus had started telling him little stories of his lifetime, which never failed to distract Alec from the daily struggles he faced. 

“A story, huh?” Magnus asked, and Alec smiled and nodded, his light eyes shining with affection. “Hmmm.” Magnus tapped a finger on his chin and then looked down at Alec with a small smile. “What about the time I rescued Marie Antoinette in a hot air balloon?” he suggested.

Alec shook his head. “You told me that one.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “And about the pretty guy that gave you one dramatic kiss and yet it wasn’t meant to be,” he said in a poor approximation of Magnus’s ‘story telling’ voice.

Magnus chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Well sorry, but my best stories are few and varied.” He looked into Alec’s eyes and looked at the slope of his cheekbones and smiled slowly. “I have one story I could tell you, but it might freak you out a little.”

“Oh?” Alec asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

Magnus grinned. “Because it’s about your ancestors.” He made a face. “Would be your… great, great… great.” He counted the three greats. “Yeah, great, great, great-grandmother.”

Alec looked at him with a frown. “You’ve dealt with my family that far in the past?”

“Oh yes,” Magnus said with a chuckle. “You know far better than I do that the Lightwood family is one of the oldest Shadowhunter families. It only stands to reason I would have had my interactions with them.” He plucked at Alec’s hair. “It’s the reason you and your sister have dark hair and such striking cheekbones, actually.”

Alec gave him a curious look. “Go on,” he said slowly, clearly intrigued now.

Magnus grinned. “It was London in the late eighteen-hundreds, and I managed to get caught up in some Shadowhunter business. I won’t bore you with the tragic tale of mayhem and fighting the forces of evil,” he said, and Alec chuckled and rolled his eyes. “I became close with a Shadowhunter boy.” He tapped Alec’s lips. “Fun fact, the only other Shadowhunter besides you I ever kissed.” Alec gave him a pointed look and he grinned. “Oh don’t look at me that way. I was not at all interested in him that way. He was beautiful, sure, but I wanted to help him, not sleep with him.” He stroked Alec’s cheek. “His name was Will and he was the most beautiful Shadowhunter I had ever seen before I laid eyes on you, my darling.”

“I thought this was about a woman? You said …” He frowned. “A lot of greats grand _mother_ ,” he reminded him.

Magnus grinned. “That I did.” He sat back, relaxing as he looked down at Alec. “Will’s father was a Shadowhunter I met briefly who was stripped of his Marks because he fell in love with a Mundane woman.” Alec looked shaken. “His father and mother lived happily as Mundanes up until a demon killed their oldest child. Will ran away from them to go to be a Shadowhunter, as was his birthright, and he never looked back. Cut to when I knew him, and suddenly his younger sister shows up and, though she came to bring him home, she ended up becoming a Shadowhunter as well.”

“Yeah, it’s in our blood,” Alec said. “I’ve heard many times about that sort of thing happening. The draw to go with your heritage.”

Magnus nodded. “Yep.” He chuckled. “When I met your several times great-grandmother, she was this little girl who was angry at everything. She was very young, younger than sixteen I believe, and yet she was so assertive.” He smirked. “Your ancestors had some very nasty scandal involving their father having Demon Pox that I won’t go into-“

“That is not a real thing,” Alec argued and Magnus snorted.

“Oh, believe me, Darling, it’s real.” He sighed. “Well, Will’s sister, Cecily, met your many times great-grandfather during the midst of a long rivalry he held with Will, and she instantly did _not_ like him.” He hummed in realization. “His older brother was your namesake,” he informed him. “Gideon is a family name for you Lightwoods, isn’t it?” he asked, and Alec nodded curiously.

“Alexander is, as well,” he said. “I had a distant uncle or something.”

Magnus grinned. “Well, Gideon Lightwood was of the genetics that gave your little brother his fair hair and coloring, because he was very handsome in that traditional way, and he had his own little scandal where he fell in love with a mundane servant.” Alec raised an eyebrow but Magnus waved a hand. “Not important. The point is, Gabriel, your ancestor, was not well received by little Cecily. She was so feisty and opinionated and she made it clear she didn’t care for his petty attitude.” 

Alec hummed. “Then how did she end up marrying him?”

“Oh, he was taken with her hatred of him,” Magnus said brightly. “He was a respected legacy Shadowhunter and here was this feisty little Welsh half-mundane girl who told it like it was and spoke her mind, and he fell hard and fast.” Magnus winked. “I suspect her attitude became genetic, because you and your sister both have that self-assured and sassy attitude.” He rubbed at Alec’s cheek. “She looked identical to her brother. She and Will were both as beautiful as the other, though she was basically a child to me.” He grinned. “In fact, the way I understand it, little Cecily deemed Gabriel worthy finally and just informed him one day that, in the future, he was going to marry her. He had no real say in the matter, not that he would have minded.” He touched Alec’s cheekbone. “And they did get married. Had several children, if I remember correctly.”

Alec grinned. “So my black hair and cheekbones and smart-ass attitude comes from a little half-mundane girl deciding a Lightwood was worthy of her attention and just informed him he would marry her?”

Magnus nodded. “Pretty much,” he finished, grinning. “You Lightwoods are all about the drama,” he joked. “Gabriel and Gideon’s father had Demon Pox that killed both him and his wife – and you know how Demon Pox is caught,” he added and Alec cringed. “And then Gideon fell for a servant and, though she did Ascend, I believe, she was still a Mundane servant when he fell in love with her.” He gestured. “The child of theirs that led to you was eccentric, I believe I remember hearing,” he added. “No clue about his children that led to you.” He hummed. “I don’t know much about your grandfather, either.”

Alec shook his head. “Both my Lightwood grandparents died fighting Demons together, so I don’t know anything about them either,” he said simply. He snorted. “And then my dad joined a terrorist organization before I was born and only had a change of heart so that I wouldn’t die as a baby.” He rolled his eyes. “Hit or miss when it comes to us Lightwoods, huh?”

Magnus shrugged. “That happens with all families, though. You, for example, are quite wonderful.” He leaned down and pecked Alec’s lips, earning a soft sigh that he knew Alec didn’t mean to let out. 

Alec looked up into his eyes and smiled. “Isabelle keeps telling me I’m better since I met you. I think she just likes not being the only rebellious one.”

“Your sister is the best,” Magnus proclaimed. “She may not be as kind and gentle and wonderful as you are, but she’s hilarious and smart and I love a woman who doesn’t let men treating her like ‘a girl’ hold her back. I’ve heard the things people say about her, and she’s got spirit.”

Alec snorted. “Of course you like Isabelle, she’s pretty much you in female Shadowhunter form.” He slowly frowned. “Ew, does that mean I’m attracted to you because you remind me of my _sister_?” he asked suddenly.

Magnus shrugged. “It’s not actually gross, the always say men like women that remind them of their mother, but you are far closer to your sister than your mother, so you like men that are of the same personality as your sister. You’re proud of your sister whereas other people might be ashamed of her, so it’s not at all surprising you’re interested in someone with traits you consider positive.”

Alec reached up, touching Magnus’s cheek. “Just don’t tell Izzy that I think you wear your makeup better than she does,” he joked and Magnus fluttered his eyelashes dramatically.

“You’re going to make me blush, Alexander,” he cooed. He chuckled. “It’s actually pretty surprising someone so masculine found yourself interested in a man who wears makeup and nail polish. Feminine guys drive away really manly guys in this day and age quite often.”

Alec gave him a confused little tilt of his head. “You’re not feminine, though.” Magnus raised an eyebrow and Alec shook his head. “Magnus, you’re a really manly guy. I mean, you like makeup and ‘pretty’ things, but you’re very masculine in general. Hell, I’m pretty sure _Jace_ is more feminine than you,” he said, only to go silent suddenly, looking away.

Magnus let out a sad sigh as he felt the tension in Alec grow after unthinkingly reminding himself that his brother was still missing. Magnus stroked a hand over Alec’s chest comfortingly. “It’s going to be alright, Darling.”

Alec just shook his head lightly and rolled onto his side, pressing his face into Magnus’s shirt. “Tell me another story. Make it up if you have to,” he murmured pleadingly against Magnus’s belly.

Magnus rubbed his back and nodded. “Well, I have to tell you about the time I went to a party with this empress who liked to dance naked with her harem of men, which was quite scandalous, except for how her husband gladly paid to house her dozen or so lovers because he was not interested in being the one to attend to her wild thirst for partying and orgies. Now, the interesting part was that I had no idea what sort of party I was attending, and when _I_ am scandalized, that’s when you KNOW it’s a hell of a party,” he said, smiling when he saw Alec relax a little, settling in to let Magnus’s voice soothe him.

~

Alec woke up to the adorable sounds of Magnus’s tiny snores and knew immediately he had fallen asleep with his head hanging over the back of the couch. It made him feel a warmth deep inside that he _knew_ these things about Magnus. He sat up and stretched, only to turn and look and grin at the sight of Magnus’s head tipped back. 

He knew it wouldn’t be comfortable so he reached out and shook him gently. “Magnus. Wake up, Magnus.”

Magnus grumbled and slumped down, sliding so that his butt was hanging off the couch and his chin smushed into his chest. “No. Don’t wanna.”

Alec grinned, shaking him gently. “Magnus, come on.” He brushed his hair back. “It’s late.”

Magnus blinked up at him then shook his head. “It’s too far to walk. I’m sleeping.”

“Oh, if that’s all,” he teased. He looked at Magnus and got an idea. He stood up and leaned down, easily sliding his arms under Magnus’s knees and below his shoulder blades to pick him up. When he stood tall, however, Magnus yelped, giving up feigning sleep to throw his arms around Alec’s shoulders.

“ALEC!” he positively squeaked, his nails digging into Alec’s shirt as he looked around. “Oh my God, what the hell?!”

Alec grinned, looking down at his startled face. “You said it was too far to walk. I’m just helping,” he said, kissing Magnus’s forehead as he turned and carried him through to his bedroom. 

Magnus rolled his eyes as Alec carried him over to the bed and gently lay him on it. “You know,” Magnus said, propping on his elbows to look up at Alec. “I can’t say I’ve ever had someone carry me to bed,” he said with a little narrow eyed look. “And what were you saying earlier about how manly I was?”

Alec smirked. “You can be very masculine and still be light enough for me to carry.” He leaned over the bed and pecked Magnus’s lips. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m very strong.”

Magnus made a show of looking at Alec’s arms and sighed dreamily. “Oh, Darling, I’ve noticed, that’s for sure.” He reached out, trailing his fingers over the bulges of Alec’s upper arm. “Oh how I’ve noticed.”

“Well, you’re welcome,” he said, patting Magnus’s hip. “I need to get home since it’s so late. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

Magnus pouted. “And here I was hoping you would stay.” He made a show of patting the other side of the bed enticingly. “Always plenty of room, Darling.”

Alec smiled sweetly and leaned in to kiss Magnus again. “I would love to, but you know how it is. Duty calls.”

Magnus huffed and flopped back. “Is this how it will be once ‘sleep over’ involves less clothes?” he asked. “Am I going to get a ‘thanks for the sex, see you later’ from you then?”

“Magnus,” Alec groaned, flushing at the thought. “No. I don’t know. Probably not? I mean, I’ve always got work, but I would hope that-“ He shrugged. “I would do my best to not have to worry about getting called away if we were planning on that.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Hell, half the reason I stop you when we start getting too heated is the knowledge that any second, my phone could ring and it’s about Jace or Valentine.” He shook his head. “I really, really do not want my first time to be interrupted in the middle because I have to go fight Valentine.”

Magnus snorted suddenly, slapping a hand over his mouth with a shameful look. “I’m so sorry, I just imagined you portaling to the fight and having to explain why you had an erection when you showed up.”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that would be pretty much the worst thing ever. Fighting Valentine literally minutes after I was just getting busy with my boyfriend.”

Alec didn’t even realize what he said, so he was confused when Magnus lit up, his eyes shining as a bright smile spread across his face. “Oh? Boyfriend, huh?” he asked, and Alec flinched.

“I- I mean- you are- we’re-“

“Alexander, relax.” Magnus sat up and tugged Alec down into a reassuring kiss. “I adore you calling me your boyfriend.” He grinned when Alec relaxed some. “I didn’t want to push you to put a label on anything until you were comfortable.”

Alec scoffed. “That’s just ridiculous. You do realize how lucky I am, right?” he asked, bumping their foreheads together. “You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met and, by some miracle, you’re actually great, not just pretty. Of _course_ I want you to be my boyfriend.”

Magnus chuckled and gave him one more slow, lingering kiss. When the kiss broke he sighed. “A boy can still have doubts, no matter how wonderful you think I am. We all know that even I am not perfect.”

Alec huffed out a soft laugh. “Lies.” He kissed Magnus’s cheek. “I’m going to go now. Get some sleep, okay? It’s late.”

Magnus flopped down on his bed and started tugging the covers down so he could crawl under them. “Goodnight, Darling,” he called after Alec, who smiled at him as he pulled the doors to Magnus’s bedroom shut.

After shutting the doors, Alec leaned his head against them for a moment, just catching his breath as he mouthed the word to himself.

 _Boyfriend_.

~

Alec wasn’t expecting to run into anyone on his way to his room after coming in way past midnight from seeing Magnus, but he was relieved that, if it had to happen, it was Lydia. She raised an eyebrow as they both came to the same junction at the same time. “Well somebody’s up late,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows as they fell into step. “Now where on earth were you, Mr. Lightwood.”

Alec flushed but smiled brightly rolling his eyes. “Fell asleep,” he muttered and she gave him an impressed smirk.

“Well now-“

“We both were asleep,” Alec said, then flushed brighter. “No, I mean like- like-“ He groaned. “He was telling me a story from history and I fell asleep listening and he fell asleep, and I woke up and…” He trailed off when she finally gave in to laughing at him and he rolled his eyes. “Don’t laugh at me.”

Lydia slapped him on the back. “Alec, come on. You’re an adult. What you get up to is your business. No reason to be shy.” She smirked. “Like my mother always said, if you wouldn’t want anybody to know what you’re doing, you’re probably doing something you shouldn’t be doing.”

Alec snorted. “Well, I didn’t have a choice in all those years what I was ‘doing’ was ‘being gay’,” he joked. “And no. I just… I don’t want you or the others to think I’m staying out all hours just to have sex when I could be here, working,” he clarified. “I meant to be home hours ago. I was just going to eat takeout and watch a movie with him, not stay until the early hours of the morning.”

“Why not?” she asked simply, giving him a playful nudge. “Look, I know I’m the weirdest person to be super into it, but you two are adorable, Alec. I’ve never seen anybody look at someone the way he looks at you.” Alec bit his lip to try and hold back a giant smile that threatened to take over his face. “This coming war is shitty and Downworlders like him will be in serious danger very soon.” She shrugged. “I’m not saying ‘make the most of your last days’ or anything, because I’m pretty sure it’ll take an army to get the jump on someone that powerful, but you shouldn’t really risk it.” She smiled sadly. “Trust me, you should sleep over and just come to work in the morning if you want to. Don’t worry about shirking responsibility when some things are more important.”

Alec gave her an amused look. “You know, I’m really glad I didn’t marry you,” he said decisively. “You’re kind of awesome and I don’t doubt I would’ve grown to resent you, if not flat out hate you, if we actually got married. I really like being friends with you too much for that.”

Lydia snorted. “I’m glad I didn’t marry you because not getting laid – at least not very often – for the rest of my life would’ve really sucked,” she said, and he laughed out loud in spite of the early hour. He couldn’t help it.

“Oh man, true.” He snorted, doubling over for a moment as they walked. “Oh God, you would hate me for way different reasons than I hate you. I mean,” He waved a hand, “At least I wouldn’t know what I was missing, but poor you. I wouldn’t know what the hell to do with a girl.”

Lydia gave him a surprised look. “Waaait a minute, are you implying that I was about to marry a _virgin_?” she asked and he shrugged but nodded.

“Yeah?” he said curiously. “I mean, you know what I’m like. Is it that surprising?”

“Alec,” she said slowly. “You’re a hot man in his twenties. Yes, that is surprising.”

Alec grinned. “You forget, I’m a surly man in his twenties who hates everybody and everything other than like five people and three things. A _gay_ one at that.”

She chuckled. “Well, I guess you have me there.” She shook her head. “I was going to marry a virgin. Man. That would’ve been a hell of a shock for me, just putting that out there.” She snickered. “Awwww, and the way Magnus loves you, I can only imagine how sweet and special he made your first time,” she cooed teasingly. 

Alec flushed. “I don’t- I mean-“ He shook his head. “Love is a really big word, and I’m not- I mean- it’s very early-“ He made an awkward sound as he held up his hand. “And we haven’t even did that yet, so I doubt he loves me if I’m not even sleeping with him, that would be just- just- I mean we just decided on ‘boyfriend’ tonight, so love is- it’s not- it’s a different sort of-“

Lydia actually stopped him and reached up to put a hand over his mouth. “Oh my God, Lightwood, chill!” she said, giving him a look that said ‘what the fuck’ better than even Alec had ever managed to convey without words. “Are you seriously so freaked out by the L- word?”

“Who’s freaked out by lesbians?” Alec actually yelped behind Lydia’s hand in shock as Isabelle came walking out of the door beside them. Alec hadn’t realized they made it all the way to the resident’s hall. Isabelle raised an eyebrow at Alec’s bright red face and Lydia’s hand over his mouth. “Alec, are _you_ freaked out by lesbians?” She glanced at Lydia. “Wait,” she said with a slow smirk. “Are you a lesbian? Oh man, I’m so glad I sabotaged that wedding.”

Lydia snorted. “No, the love of my life was a man.” She took her hand away from Alec’s mouth. “And no, the four-letter L-word,” she said, and Isabelle looked at Alec understandingly.

“Oooh. Yeah. Alec’s emotionally crippled,” she said to Lydia. She shrugged. “It’s not so bad, though. Their relationship is new. Let him work up to ‘love’.” She winked. “Even if Magnus is totally in love with him.”

“Izzy!” he whined, and she grinned.

“It’s just true, Big Brother. The man is so different around you than when you aren’t around. It’s adorable. He has actual heart-eyes looking at you.” She nudged Lydia. “You should see how Magnus lights up like Rockefeller Center at Christmas whenever Alec smiles at him. It’s disgustingly cute.”

Alec pouted. “We just agreed on the ‘boyfriend’ definition tonight. Love is a whole other beast.”

Lydia snickered. “Just not the beast with two backs, yet,” she muttered, and Isabelle looked at her in surprise.

“Wait, _what_?” She looked at Alec, hands on her hips. “You’ve been going to see him, at his house, _alone_ , and nothing?!”

Alec frowned. “Huh?” he asked, and Lydia put a hand on Isabelle’s shoulder.

“I’m coming to realize how innocent your brother really is,” she said, then looked at Alec. “What I said is a euphemism for sex, and from what you babbled, you haven’t gone that far yet, and naturally, Isabelle is as surprised as I was.”

Alec made a face. “That’s the most disgusting way to say ‘sex’ ever,” he said plainly. “And holy crap, Iz, why are you getting on my case about sex? You’re my baby sister! You should be like I am and never want to have to think about my siblings having sex.”

Isabelle raised an eyebrow. “You punched a vampire for calling me a slut,” she reminded him and he rolled his eyes.

“You can have however much sex you want and shouldn’t be ashamed of it, but I don’t want to _think about it_!” He sighed, putting a hand over his eyes. “But fine, no! We haven’t had sex, Magnus is very patient and totally fine with it, I’m constantly on call an expecting to have to run fight Valentine every minute of the day, and he gets it, because like Lydia said before, Magnus is a total romantic and will probably want to make some big production out of it and without fail, I’ll get the call the second we start having sex, and he would probably stroke out over having our perfect first time ruined, because though I love his creativity, Magnus is a perfectionist, so yes!” he said much louder. “I am still a virgin!”

Isabelle and Lydia both smiled, but neither of them was the one speaking when a voice said, “Wow. Thanks for the update, we all wanted to know that,” behind him. He spun around, and this time he wasn’t the only one blushing, Lydia turned bright red, whereas Isabelle made a sort of panicked honking sound as she tried not to laugh out of panic and failed. 

Both their parents and no less than _five_ members of the Council stood in the hallway behind Alec. The man who had spoken looked thoroughly amused and Alec wanted to die. “Sorry, Sir. We’re just- just chatting on our way to our rooms,” he said quickly.

He chuckled. “You must be Alec Lightwood.” He held out his hand and Alec shook it dutifully. “Victor Aldertree. I’ve been sent to assist Miss Branwell in keeping the Clave updated on the hunt for Valentine from his last known location.”

Lydia stepped up. “Nice to see you, Victor,” she said, holding out her hand. “I didn’t know they were sending you to join me.”

“Neither did I,” he said simply. “Though, I have heard about all the recent drama,” he said, and Lydia and Alec exchanged uncomfortable looks. “However, I’ve been assured by Maryse and Robert that everything is business as usual again.”

“Yes, of course,” Alec said seriously. “We can’t afford to let personal lives get in the way in the face of this threat. Valentine and his Circle are one of the most shameful things to ever come out of the history of Shadowhunters,” he said without care to his parents being present, “And we can’t risk another massacre like the Uprising.”

Victor nodded. “Especially since he kidnapped your parabatai, correct?”

Alec floundered for a moment. “I- yes, he did.” He glanced over Victor’s shoulder. “But most people disagree with our claims. They say he went willingly and joined Valentine.”

“My mother had a parabatai,” Victor said calmly, “I believe I can trust your judgement of the situation over speculation by people who weren’t even there.”

Alec let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. It was nice to have somebody trust him. He cleared his throat and glanced at Lydia. “If that’s all, I think we should really be getting to bed. We all have work in the morning,” he said, including Isabelle in his statement.

“Of course. We can talk more tomorrow,” Victor said, and Alec and the others turned to head down the hall, disappearing into their respective rooms without another word to one another.

~

Alec was working out with Lydia when he heard a familiar sigh behind him. “Oh my poor bisexual heart.” Alec turned to looked over at Magnus, who stood in the doorway, and smiled in surprise. 

“Magnus, hey. What’re you doing here?” He asked as he let go of the staff he had been holding and went to grab his water bottle and catch his breath.

Magnus smirked, looking between Alec and Lydia. “At the moment, filing this scene away for later fantasies-“

“Watch it, Bane,” Lydia teasingly warned. “You’re a taken man, last I heard, eyes up here,” she said, pointing at her face.

Magnus grinned. “Yep! Sure am,” he said, smiling up at Alec as he got to his side. “And my, isn’t he pretty?” he sighed, tilting his head, smiling. “Sorry I stole him from you, Lydia, dear.”

She scoffed. “You saved me a world of trouble. I had no idea I was marrying a gay virgin. Even when I worked out he had the hots for you, I figured bisexual and definitely not a virgin, my future would’ve been pathetically lacking sex if you hadn’t saved us from that,” she said and Alec glared at her dramatically.

“Lydia.”

She smiled and shrugged. “What? I like him, he gets the friendly Lydia, not the business one,” she defended.

Magnus brightened up. “I knew I liked you,” he said happily. He turned to Alec, tilting his head. “Shame on you for almost dooming her future to being sad and lonely,” he teased and Alec rolled his eyes.

“Yes, I’m the dumb Lightwood, we all agree on this,” he drawled. “But really,” he said, reaching out to rest his hand on Magnus’s arm. “What’re you doing here?”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “I got called in by this new envoy from the Clave to give my statement on the whole Jace and Valentine thing, but when I got here, your mother told me I was not to disturb them until they finished their meeting.” He winked. “So I came to find her firstborn and defile him in ways that would make her hair turn white.”

Alec blushed, but chuckled. “Sorry, Babe, but I’m helping Lydia right now. I doubt she’d want to quit her workout just because I would rather make out my boyfriend-“

“Oh no, go ahead, I’ll just watch,” she said, winking at Magnus.

Magnus gave her a surprised grin. “Wow, kinky,” he purred, then turned back to Alec. “But alas, I prefer to keep Alexander to myself,” he said, reaching up to cup Alec’s sweaty cheek in his hand lovingly. “After all, your eyes would melt and you would be ruined for all others if you saw the way Alec’s eyes get when he’s turned on,” he said with a little wink for Alec.

Alec snickered but leaned in, kissing Magnus’s forehead as he squeezed him lightly in a one-armed hug. “Thank you for coming to see me, but you should probably get back, now. Victor is probably done and waiting on you.”

Magnus pouted. “Do I have tooo?” he whined grumpily. “I’d rather stay here with you and your amazingly sweaty biceps,” he said, looking at Alec’s arms. “Ew, and you hugged me,” he said, nose scrunching up. “Gross.”

“When you’re done, maybe Lydia and I will be finished and you and I can go somewhere?” Alec suggested. “I can swap patrol with Izzy and we can get something to eat.”

Magnus beamed up at him, eyes twinkling with happiness. “You’re asking me out on a date, now. A few weeks ago, you were set to marry a woman rather than admit you’re gay, and now you’re asking me out super casually. I’m so proud of you, Alexander.” He stood on his toes quickly and pecked Alec’s lips before pulling away. “I’ll see you when I’m done, Darling.”

“Alright,” Alec said, watching Magnus leave with a small, happy smile. When he was gone, he turned back, only to see Lydia smirking. He blushed and rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright, just get back to work.”

“Whatever you say, ‘Darling’,” she teased, wiggling her eyebrows at him dramatically.

~

Magnus smiled dangerously, his “High Warlock Bane” smile, the one that said he was amused by such petty mortals, as he sat in a chair in front of an entire table full of Shadowhunters. 

The new envoy from the Clave was someone Magnus hadn’t met before, a tall, dark man with a strangely amused glint in his eyes that the rest of them didn’t have. “Warlock Bane,” he greeted from his position in the middle of the group of Shadowhunters. “Thank you for coming to meet with us.”

Magnus tilted his head. “Anything to help, even in the slightest way, stop Valentine,” he said airily. “Some of you will remember quite well how we warlocks fared the last time Valentine started his crusade.” He gave Robert and Maryse a dangerous smile. “A couple of you quite intimately remember it, I would say.”

Robert opened his mouth to defend himself, but the new envoy spoke up. “Warlock Bane, my name is Victor Aldertree, and I, too, remember the last time very well, so we are both on the same side today,” he said seriously. 

Magnus recognized the name and, before he could ask, it hit him. “Ah, Elizabeth Aldertree was your mother,” he said, and Victor looked impressed.

“Yes, she was. So you can understand why this is not a trial, this is not trying to catch you out on a supposed charge, this is genuinely asking for your help,” he said, and Magnus could believe his sincerity. Elizabeth Aldertree had been one of many Nephilim the Circle had slaughtered during the Uprising. 

Magnus held out his hands. “Well, Victor, whatever you need of me, feel free to ask. I have quite a good memory, so there shouldn’t be anything of that night I don’t remember.”

“Very good,” Victor said, looking down at the notes in front of him. “First and foremost, I have to ask, and again, I mean no disrespect or accusation,” he reassured. “But what was the reason you were at the location where Valentine appeared and left with Jace Wayland and no other hostage?”

Magnus gestured with a finger. “I was helping retrieve a spell book that would wake Jocelyn Fairchild from her magically induced coma.”

Victor nodded. “And what prior connection did you have with Jocelyn Fairchild before being tasked with waking her?”

“I have known Jocelyn for the past sixteen or so years,” he said honestly. “Not as a friend or anything, but she was a client of mine. She paid me to take her daughters memories every time her Sight came though and allowed her to see monsters and magic and all manner of things.” He shrugged. “Jocelyn wanted Clarissa to be Mundane, though sadly, it was in vain.” 

Victor wrote something down. “The place you were searching for the book was an apartment belonging to Camille Belcourt, head of the local vampire clan. What was the nature of your relationship with her?”

Magnus scoffed. “Scorned ex-lover turned bitter rival,” he said bluntly. “I detest that monster with every fiber of my being, and I have for nearly a century and a half.”

“And yet you were given access to her private home?” Victor asked, and Magnus made a face.

“A business transaction. Clary needed the book, Camille needed a writ of transmutation to assuage her of any guilt in the murder and turning of Simon Lewis, so Simon blackmailed her,” he said with a proud smile at the memory. “Lovely boy, that fledgling. Very smart to blackmail her that way. He would’ve never gotten justice from the Clave anyways,” he said, giving them all a cool smile. “Since he was Changed, his murder wouldn’t matter as much as it would had he stayed dead, now would it?”

“That is out of line,” Inquisitor Herondale said and Magnus just sneered.

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

Victor cleared his throat. “If we can return to the questions at hand,” he interrupted. “Warlock Bane, how did you get involved in this Valentine business anyways?”

Magnus glanced away, holding out his hand. “As I said, I had been taking Clary’s memories. Somehow the young Shadowhunters of this Institute found out it had to be me, so they tracked me down. At first, Valentine’s men followed them and found me and my people, so I shook them and tried to flee. However, they managed to track me and actually ended up saving both me and a lot of my warlocks,” he admitted. “Valentines men had followed me and killed several of my friends, but those four showed up and helped fight them back. I sent my people away for their own safety, and Clary demanded I help her recover her memories. It proved fruitless, but after that, they kept in touch and asked for my help a few times.”

Victor nodded. “And by ‘asked for your help’, what do you mean?”

Magnus rolled his eyes, annoyed. “Well, Luke Garroway – Lucian Graymark, to you – was badly injured and they brought him to me to save him. He was fighting the local alpha to protect them and he won and became the new alpha, but the bite was killing him. I helped save him.”

“And then you began working for this Institute?” Victor prompted.

Magnus raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I began doing some work for them… I’m sorry, but what does all of this have to do with the night Valentine showed up?”

Victor looked ashamed, but Inquisitor Herondale spoke up. “You are a Downworlder. We’re trying to ascertain as to whether you helped these disobeying young Shadowhunters out of support for their cause or in an effort to subvert the Clave.”

Magnus narrowed his eyes at her. “If fighting Valentine is subverting the Clave, you need to take a good, long look at yourselves, wouldn’t you say?” he asked coldly. 

Victor interrupted before she could speak again. “Okay, we’ll get to the most important question: Do you think Jace Wayland was abducted or do you think he went of his own free will?”

Magnus shook his head. “He was left no choice. No, they did not physically abduct him, but he agreed to go with them if they left the rest of us alone. Jace may not be my favorite person in the world, but Jace did it to protect his brother and sister and his friends. Valentine may be the man who raised him, but _those_ are his parents,” he said, pointing at Robert and Maryse. “I know blood means a lot more to you Shadowhunters than is even slightly sane, but Jace is a Lightwood in every way that counts, and unlike his parents, he would never voluntarily join Valentine.”

Victor nodded. “One last question,” he said, looking up. “In your professional opinion, should the Clave give control of this Institute back to the Lightwoods, or should a new head be appointed?”

Magnus was taken aback, honestly. “I had no idea a warlock could have a professional opinion on the running of an Institute?”

“The local High Warlock can, since you have a good outside look at how well they are doing their job as heads of the Institute,” Victor said, though every Shadowhunter on either side of him was looking at him suspiciously.

Magnus smiled, very amused. “I am flattered, but I’m afraid I can’t give an impartial answer to that question.”

“Your answer would have no weight anyways,” Inquisitor Herondale said with clear ire in her voice. “You have done enough to bring shame to that family as it is, no need to rub it in.”

Magnus raised a finger. “Were you or were you not here to condemn Isabelle to be banished?”

She ignored him and continued on her tirade. “You have placed a black mark on the Lightwood name for generations-“

“No,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I placed my _lips_ on a Lightwood, the Circle members placed a black mark on the name,” he argued firmly. 

“You brought shame on that poor family,” she finished coldly.

Magnus just smirked evilly. “You tried to banish one of them for saving a Downworlder’s life, I’m not shocked you have such a dim view of the one who routinely spends the night at my home.”

Victor cleared his throat. “Mr. Bane, we are not here to judge your relationship,” he said, giving Inquisitor Herondale a pointed look.

Magnus smiled at him more politely. “Victor, I know you mean well, but this is precisely why my opinion about leadership of this Institute won’t matter to your friends here.” He shook his head. “I recognize I am biased, but I do believe that, were I not dating him, I would still tell you, from a professional standpoint, that the only real leader this Institute has had is Alec Lightwood. However, you Clave members will never give him this Institute now,” he said bluntly. “His punishment for kissing a Downworlder is to never run an Institute whereas his parents were charged with _killing_ multiple Downworlders and they got handed this Institute as ‘punishment’.” He narrowed his eyes at Victor with a grin. “You aren’t naïve, Victor.”

Maryse gave him an enraged stare. “How dare you act like we are not aware of our sins, Magnus,” she said coldly. “I know damn well the only reason you are ruining my sons reputation is payback against his parents-“

Victor started to intervene but Magnus held up a hand to silence him. “Let’s settle one thing for certain, Maryse,” he said tensely. “Your son chose me. I gave him the choice and he chose me because he deserves to be happy. I am not ruining your son’s reputation, I let him choose his own path, and don’t _ever_ suggest that my relationship with Alexander is payback for shit,” he said harshly. “I love him in _spite_ of you. I never thought I would ever feel anything but disgust for any Lightwood after what you and Robert did, but you deserve some credit for raising children who are actually good people.” He shook his head. “Your son is better than the both of you combined ever have been. It’s as simple as that. Alec is a good person and a great leader, and your kind would punish him for nothing more than the way he was born. Not that shocking, considering you, Maryse, would’ve killed me had you gotten the chance simply because I was born like this.”

Victor jumped in before Maryse could talk back and stood up. “Thank you, Warlock Bane. You can go now.”

Magnus nodded to him with a smile. “Why thank you, Victor.” He smirked over at Maryse as he continue speaking to Victor. “I think I’ll go see my boyfriend, now,” he commented before heading out.

~

Magnus was oddly quiet when they sat down at their table with their baskets of fries. Alec watched him staring off into space for a moment and took a chance to reach over and steal one of Magnus’s fries. However, rather than turn around and smack his hand away, Magnus didn’t even notice. 

Something had to be wrong if Magnus was distracted from his favorite French fries in the whole city. “Babe? Are you alright?” Alec asked carefully, and Magnus snapped around like he’d woken up from a daydream.

“What? Sorry, I was just thinking- hey, you didn’t have cheese fries!” he accused, looking at the half-eaten, cheese-covered fry in Alec’s hands. “You little fry stealer.”

Alec popped the rest in his mouth and smiled as he chewed. “You shouldn’t be so out of it, then,” he said, sliding one of his legs out to bump against Magnus’s under the table. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Magnus sighed, rolling his eyes. “I hadn’t planned on involving you, but if you must know, your mother got to me earlier. Made me lose my cool and shout at her.”

Alec frowned. “What? I thought you were talking to the Clave members visiting, not them.”

“Oh your parents were there,” Magnus assured him. “Your father, he didn’t start yapping, but when Victor Aldertree asked me about who I thought, professionally of course, should be appointed Head of the Institute, I told him I was biased because, of course, you’re the obvious choice,” he said, waving hand as if he hadn’t just said something that made Alec’s insides warm with affection.

Alec smiled bashfully. “You think I should get the position officially?”

Magnus raised an eyebrow. “Of course I do, Alexander. You’re the best Shadowhunter in the city.” He waved a fry. “Of course, they burst in that I ruined your chances and blah blah blah, but then your mother eventually dared suggest that the only reason I’m with you is to get back at her.” He rolled his eyes. “Like I told her, you know that I’m dating you in spite of who your parents are. In a perfect world, there would be some shocking news you were swapped at birth, but of course you and your siblings are definitely related,” he said and Alec rolled his eyes.

“What was it you said? There are good Lightwoods and bad ones. I’m not ashamed of being their son, because that has nothing to do with who I’ve become.” Alec smiled, leaning forward some to steal another fry. “I’m proud of myself-“

“Thief!” Magnus accused, slapping Alec’s hand away, glaring playfully as he put his arm around his basket of fries. “Fries that are mine only belong in my tummy,” he said and Alec snickered and rolled his eyes affectionately. 

“Here,” he said, holding out his basket so that Magnus could steal one of his fries as payment.

Magnus snatched one and tossed it into his mouth, humming happily. “I’m so happy French fries stayed en vogue. Life would be tragic without them.” He sighed. “Anyways, as I was saying, the Inquisitor and your mother have it out for me for corrupting you.” He smirked. “Oh if they knew how spirited you are without my help.”

Alec grinned. “I’ve always been a daredevil, I don’t know why they think they can blame you.” He shrugged. “She’s the one that used to be proud of me for getting into fights when I was little. I broke another kid’s nose once and she praised me for it.”

Magnus scrunched his nose. “Well that’s not fucked up at all.”

“It is what it is,” Alec said with a shrug. “We fight. It’s in our job description.” He looked at Magnus. “You’re looking more muscular lately. What have you been doing?” he asked. “Fighting somebody yourself?”

“Actually, sort of,” Magnus said, looking at his arms. “Raphael’s been angry since you Shadowhunters turned his precious fledgling against him. He’s talked me into working out with him.”

Alec smirked. “I like it. Between that and the-“ He gestured to his own cleanly shaven face around his mouth and chin. “You’re somehow even more attractive.” He cringed. “Not that I only want you because you’re attractive, of course not, I just mean-“

“Oh, Darling, you are the cutest,” Magnus interrupted, grinning. “Compliments to my looks are appreciated, but I never suspected you of only liking my pretty face,” he teased. His smile softened and he reached out to touch Alec’s wrist affectionately. “You don’t risk so much for just a pretty face. I trust nothing more than your feelings for me.”

Alec turned his hand over and squeezed Magnus’s lightly. “Good.”

Magnus winked. “Besides, you’ve barely worked up to touching me _over_ my clothes, if you just liked my looks, you would’ve got me out of them already.” He took a sip of his soda after taking his hand back.

Alec shrugged. “Maybe I should,” he said simply, popping a fry in his mouth.

Magnus nearly choked and looked up in Alec as he slapped a hand over his mouth. “Alexander,” he coughed. “You can’t say things like that when a man’s drinking something!”

Alec smirked. “You do it to me all the time,” he accused. “But anyways, can I come over tonight?”

“Oh?” Magnus asked, raising his eyebrow. “Feel like a nightcap?” he asked.

Alec’s stomach clenched with nerves, but he felt surer than ever. “I was thinking about staying over.” He looked up, meeting Magnus’s eyes. “If that’s okay?”

Magnus blinked in surprise, but smiled slowly. “Of course, Darling.”

~

Magnus collapsed onto Alec’s chest, panting. “Oh Alexander,” he sighed, rubbing his cheek against Alec’s sweaty pec.

“By the Angel,” Alec panted, and Magnus hummed happily, smiling against Alec’s skin. 

“I have no idea what got into you, Darling,” Magnus said, sliding a hand down Alec’s abs. “But that was very unexpected.”

Magnus lifted his head, propping his chin on Alec’s chest and Alec raised a hand to stroke his hair from his face with a smile. “Honestly?” he asked with a sheepish look. “You telling my mom that you care for me in spite of them. I already knew that I l- really care about you, but it just reminded me how much you care about me, too.”

Magnus’s belly erupted in butterflies and he smiled brightly at Alec’s slip. He shuffled further up Alec’s body and kissed him sweetly. “I’ll say it if you will,” he urged, biting his bottom lip to fight the bright smile threatening him. 

Alec blushed. “I- what?”

Magnus tilted his head playfully. “You almost said it, but I’ll say it if you do.” He pecked his lips again. “Unless you’re not ready,” he added gently. He brushed his fingertips against Alec’s cheek. “I would never pressure you, my darling.”

Alec smiled suddenly and curled both arms around Magnus’s middle, hands sliding up the muscled planes of his back as he held him close, their bodies together from forehead to feet, legs tangled. “I love you, Magnus,” he said softly, and Magnus lit up so beautifully Alec could barely breathe.

“Oh. I really didn’t expect you to say it,” he admitted breathlessly. He squeaked and burrowed his face into the side of Alec’s hair, squeezing Alec in a hug. “Oh Alexander.”

Alec huffed. “Uh, excuse me.” He poked him in the side. “Magnus,” he prompted, and Magnus pulled back to look into his eyes again.

“Yes, Darling?”

Alec raised an eyebrow. “Magnus.” Magnus gave him a coy little smirk and Alec narrowed his eyes and then, in one more, flipped them over, pinning Magnus beneath him.

“Ahhh! Alec!” he squealed, giggling when Alec grabbed his hands and pinned them over his head. “Oooh, kinky,” he teased, wiggling his eyebrows exaggeratedly.

Alec growled playfully. “Magnus.”

Magnus sighed dramatically. “Oh how I love you, Alexander,” he said softly, smiling up into Alec’s eyes. He wiggled his wrists. “Is this your way of saying you want round two, or can I have my hands back?”

Alec slid his hands from Magnus’s wrists, down his forearms, and over his muscular arms. “Mmmm, I’m considering it,” he said, and Magnus raised an eyebrow. He pressed his lips to Magnus’s arm. “And a third.” He kissed along his shoulder. “And a fourth.”

“An hour ago, you were a virgin, and now you intend to make up for your years of repression in one night?” Magnus teased.

Alec kissed his chest. “Mmmm, be honest, would you actually have a problem with that?” he asked, looking up at Magnus as he kissed across to his sternum. 

Magnus shook his head minutely, leaving his arms up but relaxed above his head now that Alec was no longer holding his hands. “Nope, can’t say I would.” He made a face. “Though, we may have to switch it up some. My body cannot handle you four times in one night. You’re rather proportionate to your freakish height, Darling,” he said with a wink. 

Alec snorted, rolling his eyes. “I’m not freakishly tall, you’re just short-“

“Lies,” Magnus said with a faked gasp. 

“Besides,” Alec said, kissing a line slowly down Magnus’s body. “I was thinking you teach me how to do other things,” he muttered as he slid down until his entire body was between Magnus’s thighs.

Magnus bit his lip in anticipation, looking down at Alec as he moved to trail his kisses down his thigh, ignoring where he wanted his attention most. “Don’t be cruel, Darling,” he said with a pout. Alec took him in his hand, urging his body to get with the program, and Magnus sighed. “Better.”

“So can I?” Alec asked, and Magnus rolled his eyes.

“You really expect me to say ‘no’ to you?” Magnus asked, but rather than reply with his words, Alec replied with his actions instead.

~

When Alec got back to the Institute the following morning, he was well aware he was insanely late. Magnus had kept him in bed after his alarm went off with pouts and sighs until Alec gave in and cuddled with him for just a little longer before getting out of bed. He then joined Alec in the shower, which most definitely did not save either of them time, and after insisting he eat some toast at least before letting him go because he had ‘used a lot of energy’ (Alec couldn’t argue with him there), he walked him to the door, wearing nothing but a thin, silky robe that showed off far too much of Magnus’s chest, and proceeded to keep him for ‘one more kiss’ until it almost became ‘dry humping against the open door’. However, they were saved by a scandalized old woman coming to see Magnus about a potion for her husband’s gout. Alec stuttered apologies to the lady who had seen his hand in very non-innocent places on Magnus’s body right up until Magnus actually shut the door in his face to shut him up.

When Alec got off the train, he had a text from Magnus that just said, _Have a good day, my love_ , which had Alec smiling without shame the whole way home. He was still smiling, though a smaller, more secretive smile, as he planned to rush to his room and feign having slept through his alarm to keep from having to explain why he had missed morning training.

He wasn’t that lucky, unfortunately.

“Alec Lightwood, where have you been?” He looked up and saw his mother stalking towards him. “You were supposed to be at training, and you’ve been out?!” she demanded, looking at his clothes.

Alec fixed on a stern face. “No, I overslept and now I’m going out-“

“You weren’t in your room when your father went to check on you after you missed training,” she said. “Who were you meeting at the break of dawn, then? The vampires would be asleep, the werewolves mostly have day jobs to ready for, and Jocelyn Fairchild’s daughter is here,” she argued.

Alec slid past her and continued on his way. “Mom, I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to get ready. I’ve got a meeting in twenty minutes,” he said, running up the steps, passing the main command center on his way to his room.

“No, if you are doing things behind our backs again, I want to know about it,” she demanded, following him into the hallway that led beyond the command center towards their bedrooms. “Alec, you answer me!”

Just as they passed the Head of Institutes office, Victor came out, running into Maryse. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, catching her before she fell. 

“This doesn’t concern you,” she said brusquely, and he looked at Alec, then back at Maryse.

“Alec, does there seem to be a problem?” he asked, and Alec sighed, rubbing a hand over his hair.

“Victor, I’m sorry I missed morning training. I was all the way in Brooklyn this morning, so I couldn’t make it in time,” he explained.

Victor raised an eyebrow. “What were you doing in Brooklyn that early?” he asked, and then seemed to think twice and he hummed. “Ah. Oh, sorry.”

Alec smiled and shrugged. “No, it’s fine. I stayed with Magnus last night, and my normal alarm was set, not an earlier alarm to get here in time. It’s my fault for missing training.” He looked at his mother. “Mom, I do have other business to attend to. We can discuss me making up for missing training after my meeting.”

He continued on, ignoring her shouting his name. He really did have things to do better than be berated by his mother.

~

“Well, well, well.” Alec gave his sister a flat look as he walked into the meeting room and went to the table. She smirked. “Somebody missed training this morning,” she said as he sat down beside Lydia, across from her and Clary. 

Clary smirked. “Early morning run, huh?”

Alec looked at Isabelle. “Is that what you told them I was doing? Crap. You could’ve texted me that,” he said. “I could’ve lied instead of say ‘oh, I spent the night with my boyfriend’,” he said sarcastically. “Thanks, Izzy.”

Clary’s phone beeped and she picked it up, then snorted as she looked at Alec, studying his neck. Alec frowned, sliding down in his chair some. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Magnus asked if you have stubble burn,” she said simply, looking back down at her phone as she started typing and Alec touched his neck, glancing at Isabelle, who just smirked even more deviously.

“Don’t worry, you don’t,” she reassured. “I’m assuming by ‘I could’ve lied’ you already got in trouble, then?”

Alec shrugged. “Not really. Mom yelled at me a little, but I told her I had somewhere to be and came here. Thank the Angel for Luke coming giving me an excuse. I do not want to deal with her anti-Downworlder crap again,” he said with a roll of his eyes.

Lydia smirked. “Or having to explain why you stayed the night on a work night.” She winked. “Somebody had a long night.”

“Who?” They all startled at Simon’s voice, and he just frowned when they jumped. “What? Oh, the supernaturally quiet thing,” he said, purposefully shuffling his feet to make noise as he went to sit beside Clary. “Anyways, who was out all night?” he asked curiously.

Isabelle grinned deviously. “Alec was supposed to have early morning training, but he stayed at Magnus’s last night instead,” she teased.

Simon perked up. “Oh hey, fixed that whole ‘virgin’ thing finally?” he asked, and Alec’s jaw dropped as his ears started to burn. 

“You- I-“ He could feel the blush spreading across his face and down his neck. “Why do you think I was a virgin?!” he demanded in a high voice.

“Aha, you said ‘was’,” Lydia said, and he glared at her, cheeks still flaming. 

Simon shrugged. “You know, Magnus said he needed you there so he could heal Luke that night because he needed energy from a virgin Shadowhunter, and Jace said ‘yeah, okay’ and went to get you,” he said, as if reminding him something.

Alec spluttered. “I- what?! Oh my God.” He let his head fall to the table with a thunk. “ _Everybody_ knew about me being a virgin?” he whined.

“Blame your Parabatai,” Simon said with a shrug. 

Isabelle snickered. “I didn’t know about this, but oh God, I would’ve paid to be there for that discussion.”

Alec grumbled, face still on the table. “When we find Jace, I’m going to kill him.” He sat up and slumped in his seat some with a heavy sigh.

~

Alec really, really hated Jace even as they worked on finding a way to save his sorry ass. “No, but really,” Lydia said, wiggling her eyebrows as she handed Isabelle another book. “Were there candles and mood music and rose petals?” she teased, and Alec groaned, thumping his head to bookcase.

“I hate you so much.”

Isabelle snickered. “Be honest. This is Magnus Bane. He’s the most dramatic man I know. There had to be music playing and wine.”

“Oh wine, yes,” Clary chimed in. “He has such expensive tastes.”

“Why are you like this?” he asked them bluntly. “What is your aim here?”

Clary shrugged. “To get you to gossip about your romantic evening! We’re girls! It’s what we do!” she said excitedly.

Alec sighed heavily. “I’m a man. And Isabelle is my sister. Why would she want to know details about a date I had with my boyfriend that ended with me not getting home until late this morning?”

Isabelle rolled her eyes. “Aleeeec. We aren’t asking you for dirty details, just the romantic ones!”

“Flowers, then?” Clary asked and Alec groaned, looking up at the ceiling in a huff.

“Fine.” He looked at them with a glare. “No, there were no _rose petals_ , what the hell?”

Lydia hummed. “Music, then?”

Alec shook his head. “No.” He held up a hand before Isabelle could ask. “And no, we didn’t go on some romantic date, we went and ate fries then went home.” He flushed slightly. “And yes, there were candles, but it’s- it’s _Magnus_.”

“Awwwwww!” Clary said, actually jumping up and down. “That’s so sweet!”

Alec rolled his eyes. “You are so weird.”

“You’re such a _boy_ ,” Isabelle countered. “It’s amazing how little you boys share with each other. I’m still depressed you’re out now and still won’t talk about boys with me.”

“Whatever, just get back to looking in these books,” he instructed, grabbing one off the shelf.

Isabelle stuck her tongue out at him but took a book. “Whatever. I’ll call Magnus later and ask him.”

Alec snorted involuntarily. “You probably don’t want to do that, because Magnus has no shame and would definitely tell you things you don’t want to know,” he warned her. “I love him, but I swear he lives to make me blush.”

Clary _squealed_ , startling Alec into jerking and looking at her. “You said you love him!” she said excitedly. “Oh my God, Alec, have you said that to him? Does he know?”

Lydia smirked. “Did you blurt it out during sex?”

Alec glared. “No, I did not.” He turned to Clary. “Yes, I love him, yes, he knows, he loves me, too.”

“Who said it first?! Was it him? I bet it was him!” Clary gushed. “Oh my God, I have to call Simon!”

“Why do you care so much?” he asked her with a concerned look. “Are you like… stalking me?”

Clary scoffed. “It’s like a romance movie playing out in real life, how could I _not_ care? Weeks ago I told you to just say you’re gay and you freaked out, now you just casually said that you love your boyfriend!”

Alec gave her a long look before simply turning to the book he’d grabbed, ignoring her entirely.

~

Magnus braced himself against the punching bag for Raphael and grunted every time Raphael punched it with his vampire strength. “What did this bag ever do to you?” he asked, and Raphael glared at him and just punched harder, so that it actually hurt a little to be holding it. “Ow,” he said pointedly, glaring at Raphael. “You know this isn’t going to help you feel better, right?” he asked. “We’ve been working out together for weeks now. Violence isn’t the answer to a broken heart.”

Raphael grunted. “Then what is?”

“Alcohol,” Magnus said, as if he was stupid. “Tons of alcohol. Screwing somebody else and regretting it later is also a great option.”

“Well that was hopefully not what it sounded like.” Magnus gasped in surprise when he heard Alec’s voice and squeaked when he saw him round the corner. 

“Alexander! I didn’t know you were coming today!” he said brightly. 

Alec nodded a polite hello to Raphael and walked over to meet Magnus in a quick kiss. “Sounds like I should do that more often if you’re sitting around talking about sleeping with other people,” he teased, and Magnus’s momentary worry that Alec would take it wrong was washed away by the teasing tone.

“Just giving Raphael advice for a broken heart,” he said, turning to speak to Raphael, only to see he had put his shirt back on. “Ah, Shadowhunter puts you off training, huh?” he flung his hand out at Alec’s chest. “Don’t take it personally. He just really hates your sister and Clary at the moment.”

“Tell them I said to go fuck themselves and their little bitch boy while they’re at it next time you see them, would you?” Raphael sneered as he grabbed his jacket and stalked towards the door, slamming it behind him.

Alec frowned. “Well that was aggressive.”

Magnus sighed, shaking his head. “Poor Raphael. You must have been around Simon today,” he said, and Alec raised an eyebrow. Magnus patted his chest. “Your clothes must smell like him.”

“Bitch boy, though?” Alec asked. “I mean, I know he betrayed the vampires, but isn’t that a little… petty?”

Magnus snapped his fingers and his living room went back to the way it was meant to be, no punching bag in sight, furniture back in its place. “Raphael is a strong leader, but in some ways he’s so very young, Darling,” he said with a sad smile. “And one of those ways is having his heart broken.”

Alec blinked. “Ew, by _Simon_?” he asked, nose scrunching as it were the grossest thing he’d heard all day. Magnus found it utterly endearing.

“Believe it or not, Darling, but not everybody gets lucky like you and falls for someone as fabulous and gorgeous as me,” he said with a grand gesture towards his face. “Also, Raphael doesn’t feel things easily. Never has,” he added. “I’ve known him to have feelings for two people in the eighty years I’ve known him, and neither time did it ever go anywhere. He just had a crush from afar. I don’t even know if the man’s any more experienced in romance than you, honestly. He grew up in a time where ‘good boys’ like him didn’t have sex, and he was turned at only nineteen. He could’ve slept with people he had no feelings for, or he could have never slept with anyone but the boy who betrayed him and his entire clan for Shadowhunters.”

Alec hummed. “That’s… really sad, actually.” He made a face. “Crap, even I’m sort of mad at Simon if that’s the case.” He tangled his and Magnus’s fingers together and tugged him until he was standing chest to chest with Alec, smiling up at him. “That would be like you betraying me. I couldn’t imagine that.”

Magnus reached up and cupped his cheek, growing more serious in tone. “And you never will, my darling Alexander,” he promised. “I would never betray you. If nothing more, you can always trust that.”

Alec nodded, leaning their foreheads together. “I know, Magnus. You are an honest person, even if you’re too honest, sometimes. You aren’t one to betray anyone.”

Magnus rocked up onto his toes and pecked Alec’s lips sweetly. “Especially not you, because I love you.” Alec’s beautiful face was overtaken by a big, wonderful smile that made him absolutely breathtaking. “I swear,” Magnus said almost breathlessly, “You are the most beautiful person I do believe I’ve ever seen I my life, Alexander Lightwood.” He touched his face, his fingertip trailing along Alec’s cheekbone. “I have lived centuries, and yet, you, Darling.” He sighed, shaking his head with a warm smile. “It’s unreasonable how perfectly composed your features are.”

Alec blushed and rolled his eyes. “Oh come on. I’m not that handsome-“

“Darling, you make _me_ look almost average,” he said and Alec snickered.

“Wow, very sure of yourself, there, Magnus.” He hugged him closer. “Wrong, though. You’re very handsome. I nearly choked on my own tongue the first time I saw your face.”

Magnus smirked. “Oh, I remember. You stuttered. It was so precious.” He reluctantly pulled away. “So, to what do I owe this wonderful visit, my darling?” he asked as he tugged Alec over to the sofa.

Alec flopped down beside him and smiled. “What? I couldn’t have just had a long day and wanted to see my boyfriend?” he asked, and Magnus grinned.

“Of course you could, I just wanted to hear you say it.” He curled up into Alec’s side and Alec put his arms around Magnus’s shoulders. “So,” Magnus said sweetly. “I think we should order a pizza, watch a movie, and maybe fall asleep making out on the sofa?” he asked, and Alec kissed his forehead.

“You have the best ideas ever.” He leaned his head against the back of the couch. “I would say ‘or take me to bed later’ but I’m so tired, I have a feeling I’ll barely make it through the ‘eat pizza’ part of the night,” he said apologetically.

Magnus patted his chest, looking at the rings under his eyes. “I suspected, my poor, tired Alexander.” He shook his head as he leaned away to grab his phone. “They work you too hard.”

Alec shook his head tiredly. “My parabatai, my job. I have to help however I can.” He huffed. “They’re most interested in Valentine, and I know that’s more important, but to me, Jace is. I want to stop Valentine, but I don’t want Jace to get hurt in the process.”

Magnus nodded in understanding. “Of course you prioritize him. He’s family.” He patted his leg. “Now. You pick a movie. I’m going to go find the number for the pizza place,” he said, hopping off the couch to go dig around in the takeout menu drawer.

~

Alec was standing in an empty room with nothing around him. It was all black and empty. He couldn’t even see a floor or a ground beneath his feet, but it was solid nonetheless. He looked around himself, and saw nothing. Only darkness. He couldn’t work out why he had come here. Or how, even. There was just _nothing_.

And then he heard a voice.

“ _Alec_.”

Alec’s head jerked up and he spun around frantically. “Jace?!” he called.

“Alec,” the voice said more clearly, and he was positive it was Jace. 

Alec turned and ran towards the voice. “JACE! JACE WHERE ARE YOU?!”

“Alec, over here, Brother.” The voice came from behind him.

Alec’s parabatai rune began to burn like a brand and he gasped, clutching his hip as he spun around. “Jace, what’s wrong?”

“Alec, I need you to run. You have to get Izzy and Clary and run. He’s coming. He’s coming for you. He’s coming tonight- shit, he knows I know, Alec, run, now!”

Alec turned around and sprinted in Jace’s direction helplessly. “JACE WHERE ARE YOU?!”

“Alec-“

“Jace?!”

“Alexander?”

Alec jerked awake with a ragged gasp, sitting upright so fast his head spun. “Jace!” he gasped out, clutching at his hip, where his parabatai run was _throbbing_.

“Alec, Darling?” Alec turned his head only to see Magnus reaching for him, but not touching him without his welcome. 

Alec looked down at his hip, fearful of removing his hand in case there was blood. “Jace,” Alec choked out, and Magnus gasped in spite of himself. “Magnus, Jace…”

Magnus shuffled forward on his knees. “Alexander,” he said, putting his hand on Alec’s back. Alec shuddered and Magnus curled his other hand around Alec’s wrist over his side. “Darling, let me see?”

Alec gasped as there was another throb of pain. “He- he was telling me something but I can’t-“ He turned his head, looking around. “I can’t remember. Something about Valentine.”

“Darling,” Magnus urged, tapping his hand. “Let me see.”

Alec glanced down at his hand fearfully. “Magnus what- what if- what if it’s faded? What if he’s gone?” he asked, voice breaking.

Magnus kissed his shoulder, eyes crushed closed in pain. “We will find whoever did it if it is so, Alexander. But you have to let me see,” he urged gently.

Alec nodded, letting out a gasp of pain as he pulled his hand away. His fingers trembled and he turned his head to look at Magnus, whose eyes were golden and slit like a cat’s in his concern for Alec. Alec ignored the sweat cooling on his skin and pulled his hand away fully, looking down with dread. His breath caught as he looked at his mark, and Magnus let out a soft breath.

It looked normal.

“Then- they why does it hurt?” Alec heard himself ask more than consciously chose to ask.

Magnus touched his skin with warm fingertips, gently tracing his rune. He shook his head. “Your skin isn’t warm. You seem fine.”

Alec let out a relieved whoosh of breath and tipped to the side, letting his head knock against Magnus’s chest. Magnus wrapped his arms around him tightly, holding him against his body as he kissed Alec’s hair. “Magnus, he spoke to me. He told me something about Valentine. It was dark and I couldn’t even see any ground beneath my feet, and I never saw him, but he said something. I just can’t remember it-“

“Are you sure it wasn’t just a dream?” Magnus asked him, and Alec lifted his head, meeting Magnus’s eyes.

“No. It can’t have been a dream.”

Magnus looked at him for a moment and nodded. “Alright, then you should go to the Institute. If Jace was trying to warn you somehow in some way, it has to mean Valentine is coming for something at the Institute.”

Alec felt a pang of fear suddenly. “Jocelyn. He’s going after Jocelyn and Clary. He has to be,” he said, scrambling out of Magnus’s arms and out of the bed. “Clary said he told her and Jace that the reason he took Jocelyn wasn’t just for the cup, he loves her and wants her at his side again. He took Jace because he wanted his son at his side, so why wouldn’t he want his wife and daughter, too?”

Magnus joined him in rushing to get dressed. “Hurry, I’ll make you a portal. You need to get to Jocelyn and Clary fast,” he said, then ran out of the room. “I NEED TO GET SUPPLIES TO HIDE THEM!” he shouted from the other room and, as Alec stepped into his boots, not bothering to tie them, he heard bottles clinking. When he rushed out, Magnus was dumping vials and bottles onto his worktable. He looked up, shoving his hair out of his face. “You go to them, warn the Institute, get them all ready for an attack, and then call me, I’ll portal them here and it won’t take me but about two hours to have something prepared that will guard them against even the most extreme tracking. Even I won’t be able to track them afterwards.”

Alec nodded. “Then you portal them wherever you can. Get them far away.” He took Magnus’s hand, turning him to face him. “Send them somewhere, and don’t tell even me,” he said seriously, and Magnus looked stricken by the implication. Alec wanted to be sure that, no matter what torture Valentine unleashed on him, he couldn’t ever betray an innocent woman and her child. Magnus made a pained sound and dragged Alec into a hard, rough kiss that said he knew perfectly what Alec was afraid off. When the kiss broke, Alec panted as he clung to Magnus. “I love you, Magnus.”

“I love you,” Magnus replied immediately, stroking his face gently. “Please be careful.”

Alec nodded. “You, too,” he replied, and Magnus turned away, not letting go of him, to open a portal to the entrance hall. Alec kissed him one more time before pulling away, and he glanced back at Magnus once more before walking through it.

~

When Alec walked through the portal and started towards the command center, he expected that, at two in the morning, the bare-bones staff would be working. He did not expect the entire Institute to be full of action. “Raj,” he called, catching him as he ran past him. “What’s going on?”

“The DuMort is under attack,” Raj said as he continued to walk backwards. “Valentine’s army.”

“They’re targeting other Downworlder strongholds,” Alice shouted on her way past Alec in the opposite direction. “The Pixies nest on twenty-third street was nearly wiped out. Only five of them got away.”

Victor came walking out of the hallway leading the Clave members. “They’re going after Luke’s pack, he sent them a fire-message, but we’re going to go try and intercept them and give the werewolves more time to escape.”

Alec could see most of the Clave members didn’t really enjoy that idea, but Alec was grateful for Victor forcing them to obey him. “Is Luke with Jocelyn and Clary or is he going to his pack?” he asked quickly.

Victor shook his head. “Alaric told him not to risk himself coming to them, so he’s trying to coordinate somewhere for them all to go hide.”

Alec nodded and then took off running. He needed to get to Jocelyn and Clary now. Magnus had already sent his people into hiding, so there wasn’t much more he could do for them. However, he could get Izzy to get word to Meliorn to have the Seelie Queen seal the gates into their realm.

The first person he found was Lydia, who was giving commands in the hallway on her way to the command center. “Lydia!” he called, running to her.

“Alec? What are you doing here? I thought you were with-“

“No time,” he interrupted. “Valentine’s army is huge, these attacks are to draw as many Shadowhunters as they can away from the Institute. He’s coming for Jocelyn and Clary and I have to get them out of here, but you need to mount whatever defense we can.”

He didn’t wait for her answer as he took off running. He got to the residential hall and slid to a stop outside Jocelyn’s room, where she and Clary were shoving some clothes into a bag. “Leave it,” he said, rushing inside. Luke stepped out of the closet, and Alec just gestured for him to drop the clothes in his hands. “Valentine is coming for you,” he said to Jocelyn and Clary. “Long story, but Jace warned me in a dream through our bond. Magnus is going to portal you to his apartment and give you something to stop anybody tracking you, not even him, then he’s getting you far away and telling no one where you went so it can’t even be tortured out of us.”

Jocelyn nodded solemnly. “I need a stele and a seraph blade,” she said simply, and Alec nodded.

“Come with me.”

~

Magnus was rushing around, mixing up his potion as fast as possible, carefully measuring every ingredient, because he did not have the time to start over. Every second was a second closer to Valentine finding Clary and Jocelyn.

He kept looking at his phone, waiting for Alec to call, but he hadn’t called yet. Because of that, when he heard boots coming up the stairs, he only had a moment to think it might be Alec and the others before cold realization hit him. He quickly tossed the rest of the ingredients in the pot, stirring them in with one hand while he scratched a quick instruction list onto a scrap of paper, and then scrambled to pour the potion into a bottle and stopper it as he heard the door being kicked in.

He had just enough time to snap his fingers and vanish both bottle and instructions, transporting them to the place of his only hope, before the feet pounding through his house came into the room with him. He turned around, eyes unglamored, not caring he was wearing nothing but cotton pajamas and a silk kimono hanging open as he raised both hands and got ready to fight.

~

Alec was with Isabelle, scrambling around for a spare stele in the training room after outfitting Jocelyn with a seraph blade and some gear, when he felt a strange sensation of something suddenly weighing down his pocket. He reached into it and tugged out a still-warm bottle with some orange liquid in it and a scrap of paper. He flattened out the paper, and his blood ran cold.

_Half for each Fray immediately. Run. Love you always._

“Alec?”

Alec looked up and knew from the looks on everyone’s faces that it was obvious something was wrong. “Magnus,” he rasped weakly.

Isabelle gasped, but Alec just closed his eyes and shook his head, steeling himself. “Clary, Jocelyn, drink half of this and the other gets the other half,” he said, holding out the bottle to Clary. Portal isn’t coming, but we can still get you as far as possible.”

“Simon’s van is still here,” Clary suggested. “We can drive for it. Get as far from the city as possible-“

Alec cut her off. “Don’t tell me, don’t tell Izzy, don’t tell anybody.” He looked at Luke. “Are you going with them or going with your pack?” he asked.

“Them,” Luke said, putting his hand on Clary’s shoulder. “They’re my family.”

Alec nodded. “Don’t tell anybody in your pack where you’re going or where you end up. Go. Now.”

Isabelle turned to him. “What about Simon? He’s reading comic books to Max to keep him calm-“

“Max is here?!” Alec asked, suddenly terrified. 

“Simon can’t stay here, he’s no good in a fight, we didn’t even tell him about the DuMort yet, because he-“

Alec turned to Jocelyn. “If you think you can feed him on the road, take him, if you can’t, he’s a bigger danger to you and himself.”

“I can get him blood,” Luke said confidently, and Alec just nodded.

“Then go get him, take him with you, and tell him about the DuMort attack when the sun is up, so he can’t try to run off and help them.” 

Jocelyn nodded. “Good luck, Alec.”

Clary rushed forward to hug him and Isabelle both, and he, for once, didn’t hesitate to hug her back. “Be careful,” she said before turning and following her mother and Luke as they went to get Simon and run as far and as fast as they could.

Alec turned to Isabelle. “Where’s Mom and Dad?” he asked her and she shook her head.

“They brought Max and headed back to Idris because he got in trouble again with his tutors. They went to smooth things over and left him here to keep him out of the way.”

He cursed, shaking his head. “We need him out of here. We need-“

“ALEC!” Lydia shouted from the hall, and they both exchanged a glance and then took off running as fast as they could. When they got to the entrance hall, fully prepared for there to be Valentine’s people there to attack, they found something entirely different. 

Lydia was kneeling beside Magnus, who lay, bloody and panting, in a crumpled heap just beside the wall that Alec could only assume had just held a portal. “Magnus!” he cried, rushing over. It was a relief to see that he was alive, but so, very, very horrible to see the shape he was in.

Alec fell to his knees on the hard floor and pulled Magnus into his lap, Magnus weakly reached for him, and Alec grabbed his hand, pulling it to his face. “‘Lec,” Magnus gasped out, and Alec wanted to cry at the state of his beautiful face. His face was cut and bruised and swollen in places, and his body was worse. His bare chest showed _boot shaped marks_ that made Alec want to murder someone.

“I’m here, Magnus, I’m here,” he soothed, and Magnus just shook his head, one eye nearly swollen shut as he grasped at Alec’s body. 

“Run. You have- have to run. They- there are-“ Magnus coughed weakly. “So many. Too strong. So many. E-Evacuate. Idris. Go,” he managed in a rattling breath.

Alec looked up at Lydia and nodded solemnly. “Make the call.”

He could see the part of her that wanted to argue that they should fight, the way Shadowhunters were raised, but it was also clear that she knew if Magnus Bane said to run, it was not something to be ignored. She nodded finally. “Get him up and bring him.” She looked at Isabelle. “Raise the alarm and get Max to the office.”

Alec gathered Magnus into his arms, careful with his injuries, as he carried his injured boyfriend through the hall and into the command center, ignoring the way everybody went a little bit quieter as he passed on his way to the office. He heard Isabelle shouting for everyone that they were going to evacuate, but didn’t stop to try and give any more commands.

For once, he was fine letting someone else be the leader. 

~

It took time to get in contact with Idris and get access to the portal in the Gard, so Alec took some of the others to gather all of the secure materials and stuff anything on paper into a large bag. Raj backed everything on the computers up to one drive and then Alec set the system to self-destruct, effectively frying the whole server system, so that nothing could be recovered. They gave the bag to Lydia, who was on the phone getting everything settled.

However, just when she hung up and turned, she only got out, “They’re opening the portal-“ before the proximity alarms went off. Everybody looked around fearfully, and even Alec was startled by the portal began sparking to life against the always-ready wall behind the desk.

Alec looked at the people gathered in the office and the others still outside in the hall, and looked back to Lydia and Isabelle. “Take Max first, Izzy, you stay with him. Lydia, get someone to help with Magnus,” he said, looking over at his unconscious boyfriend, lying on the desktop. He looked around at the rest of them. “Raj,” he called. “Come with me.”

Isabelle shoved past people. “Alec, what are you doing-“

“We sent the call for Victor’s team and every other Shadowhunter in the city to scatter and find passage back to Idris,” Alec interrupted. “It will take more time than we have for all of you to get through to Idris and far too long for anybody else to come through without interrupting our evacuation. Get everybody through. I’m going to go distract them as long as I can,” he said heavily, and he knew that Isabelle knew exactly what he was thinking.

Max looked scared and confused where he stood holding her hand. “Izzy? Alec? What’s going on?”

Alec knelt down and looked at Max, cupping his face in his hands. “It’s all okay. You go with Izzy and go to Mom and Dad and it’s all going to be fine. And help look after Magnus for me, huh?” he asked, and Max nodded, clearly still afraid. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Alec, don’t-“

“No, Izzy, you’re all getting out,” he said, turning to leave, taking Raj with him.

After making their way through the people in the hall, he got to the corner and put a hand on Raj’s chest. Raj frowned. “What-“

“Stand here,” Alec instructed him. “Watch for me. I’m going to try to slow them down and make it back,” he stressed. “If the person around the corner isn’t me, don’t wait for me, just run.”

“But Alec I can help-“

“No,” Alec said with finality. “Someone has to keep watch, because if we both die, Lydia will wait too long and Valentine can get to the portal. If Valentine gets through that portal, everyone we know and love is in danger,” he stressed. “So stand here. Keep watch. If it’s me, we go together. If it’s not me, run and get Lydia to close the portal behind you.”

He didn’t wait for a reply as he took off, running towards the main entrance. When he got to the doors, he opened them slowly, only to have his heart sink when he saw well over a dozen people in front of the Institute. They weren’t attacking, they all just stood, waiting for orders. 

At the front of them was Valentine, and at his side was Jace. Alec’s stomach twisted painfully but he remained calm. He stepped out and pulled the doors shut behind him. He slowly walked out onto the top step, bow invisible in his left hand. He stood, head held high, and looked down at Valentine. Valentine didn’t say anything, so Alec raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

Valentine smirked. “ _Well_ , I do believe you’re a bit outnumbered, Son.”

“And you’re not welcome here,” Alec said simply. “So why don’t you leave. You’ve done enough damage tonight, don’t you think? The vampires. Pixies. Werewolves. A warlock. The Angel knows how many mundanes you killed making your army,” he said, looking around at all the people around them. “Sorry about the Seelies,” he added with a little shrug. “They have a little more control over their realm than the rest of the Downworlders, and it was only fair to warn them you were coming.”

Valentine chuckled. “So that was you, then.” He shifted, looking around at his people and glanced at Jace, who was clearly shaken. “You’re the Lightwood boy, aren’t you?” Valentine asked, tilting his head. “Guess you heard about that warlock, then.”

Alec bristled, jaw working as he fought not to grind his teeth. “Whose boot print was that on his chest?” he asked in a forcedly calm voice. 

A few chuckles went through the crowd and Valentine looked around. “You know, I think it might’ve been Cora,” he said, looking at a woman, but she shook her head with a grin.

“Charlie, I think,” she said, and a guy smirked, puffing his chest out when she reached over and patted him on the back. 

Alec nodded as he looked at the man, Charlie, and then, in one fluid movement, his bow became visible and he nocked an arrow. Before anybody ever realized what he was doing, he had released and it was only after the solid thud of an arrow hitting its mark that the chuckles stopped. Even Charlie looked stunned in the seconds it took for him to fall backwards, dead by the time he hit the ground. “Thanks for letting me know,” he said with a crooked grin.

Alec braced himself as several in the crowd let out angry cries and started for him, but Valentine threw out his arms. “Stop!” he commanded, and they all froze. He raised an eyebrow. “He isn’t alone. They wouldn’t be that stupid.” Alec held his gaze, trying not to give anything away in his expression, but something must have changed because Valentine stood straighter. “Or are they?”

“Tell me, Valentine,” Alec said firmly. “How many children did you orphan tonight? How many did you kill?”

Valentine scoffed. “There are no children among Downworders, just monsters.”

Alec shuddered. “Well my little brother won’t be among them,” he said firmly, nocking another arrow and raising it. “My Institute is not yours and that’s one child you won’t hurt tonight.”

Jace paled rapidly. “Oh God, Max,” he choked out, looking at the building behind Alec. 

Alec released the arrow while Valentine was distracted by Jace’s outburst, and it flew true, only Valentine turned and _caught it in his hand_. Alec’s eyes widened and he actually gasped, and Valentine just started to laugh as he turned to face him, dropping the arrow to the ground. “Nice try,” he said, then gestured to Alec with a casual look of distaste. “Kill him.”

Alec backed up and drew another arrow, because if he was going to die, he was taking as many of them with him as he could, but before anybody could even start up the steps, Jace darted forward. “Wait, wait, wait!” he said quickly, backing up the steps, hands held out. “He’s my parabatai, Father, you know what will happen to me if you kill him,” he urged. “Just- just take him with us. Drug him. But if he dies it- it will-“

Valentine gave Jace a sympathetic look. “Oh Jace, I’m sorry. I didn’t think.” He nodded solemnly. “If he dies, you’ll feel his life draining and feel the pain of your bond being severed.” Jace nodded, swallowing hard and Alec was almost more afraid of how deep Jace had gotten himself if Valentine was this considerate. However, Valentine’s face hardened. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt for long.”

Jace stared in shock for a moment as Valentine gestured and his people began up the steps, but, before Alec could even turn and try to run, Jace growled in frustration. “Fuck it,” he spat, turning and running for Alec. Alec braced himself to be attacked for a moment, still unable to be positive of Jace’s loyalties, but instead Jace just grabbed his arm and shoved him towards the doors. “RUN, DAMMIT!” he shouted, and Alec got with the program.

When they wrenched open the doors, they both took off at a sprint, not bothering to try and bar the door behind them. “The office,” Alec said simply, and Jace followed him, keeping up with Alec’s longer strides as they ran. Alec spotted Raj still waiting and Raj gasped when he saw Jace. “GO, GO, GO!” Alec shouted, and Raj disappeared around the corner. 

Alec and Jace slid into the wall as they rounded the corner and they made it into the office just in time to see Raj slipping through the portal that Lydia waited in front of. “Jace-“ 

Alec cut her off. “Go, hurry,” he said, shoving Jace through the portal first, in spite of his yelp, and then he grabbed Lydia and dove through just as the sound of feet thundering down the hall outside of them reached their ears.

When they slammed into the ground on the other side, Alec just shouted, “CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT!” He didn’t care who listened, as long as it was closed before Valentine could get through.

The portal closed with a ‘whoosh’ and Alec finally relaxed, rolling onto his back. He panted, staring up as he heard a shocked den around him. He reached over for Jace and turned his head just as Jace closed his hand around Alec’s. Jace met his eyes, and Alec couldn’t help smiling as happiness and relief filled him and he felt the ache of his parabatai being gone begin to wane. Jace started laughing as he rolled over onto his front, slinging his other arm around Alec’s chest, just smashing his face into Alec’s shoulder as he laughed a little hysterically. Alec could only laugh in response as he patted Jace on the back of the head, looking up at the ceiling as he reveled in feeling whole again after so long.

It only lasted a short while before there was a loud squeal and a heavy weight landed right on top of him and Jace and he was blinded by dark hair. “JACE! Alec, oh thank God you made it, and JACE!” Isabelle cried, dragging Jace until he looked up at her, laying tucked into Alec’s side, and she squealed, tugging him into a hug.

Jace curled his arm around her, hand twisting in her hair as he held her close. “Izzy,” he sighed in relief. Alec curled his arms around both of them, swallowing around the lump in his throat as he smiled blindingly.

“JACE!” Alec barely had time to move his leg to avoid an excited eight year old landing on his junk as Max leapt on top of the pile, laughing as he looked down at Jace.

“Max! Buddy!” Jace cried, sitting up some to kiss his head. “Oh my God, I missed you all so much,” he said, pressing his forehead to the top of Max’s head.

Isabelle looked happier than Alec had seen her in weeks, Max, who had been shielded from the worst of it, seemed relieved to finally see his other brother again, and Alec felt _whole_ finally. “I love you guys so much,” he said simply.

“Did he make it through?! Did Alec get back-“ Alec heard his mother shouting from somewhere to the left, and he turned just in time to see the moment Maryse spotted all four of them hugging. “Jace? Jace!” she shouted, and they all sat up, turning just in time for Maryse to run to them. She fell to her knees and dragged Alec and Jace into her arms, crying as she held them. “Oh God, they said you stayed behind to buy time for them to escape,” she said, looking at Alec with tears in her eyes. “Thank the Angel,” she breathed, touching his face. 

Alec smiled over at Jace. “Jace saved me,” he said, and Jace smiled blindingly.

“You saved me too, Alec, I would’ve never had a chance to run other than that,” he said seriously.

Maryse turned and pressed her lips to Jace’s hair. “I knew it. I knew you weren’t like him. You’re my son, not his son,” she breathed and he nodded, pressing his face into her shoulder.

“Maryse, where are they-“ Alec lifted his head and looked over his shoulder just in time to see his dad arrive, and Robert positively slumped in relief as he spotted them all. “Oh thank the Angel,” he said, and Alec smiled at his dad, while still being held hostage by his mother’s hug.

~

Magnus, unsurprisingly, wasn’t extremely welcomed by most of the people in Alicante, but they did care for him and help him heal himself enough to get around. Alec wasn’t with him when he was taken to the Lightwood family house, but after he, Lydia, and Jace finished explaining to all of the Council what they knew and what they had done, he and Jace were allowed to go home. When they got there, Alec immediately went to go find Magnus. 

Alec shared a room with Jace when they were in Alicante, so he wasn’t surprised to see that, rather than just stick Magnus in with them, Magnus had been put in the guest room. He knocked on the door and, when he peeked in, he saw Magnus was sitting up in bed. “Hey,” he said softly, and Magnus smiled at him, holding out a hand.

“Alexander,” he said with a relieved sigh, and Alec wasted no time going to him. He slid into the bed beside Magnus, who immediately curled up against Alec’s chest, relaxing into his hold. “God, even though they told me you were okay, it’s a relief to see you for myself.”

Alec looked down at his face, his chest tightening painfully as he saw the bruises still littering his face. The swelling had gone down after they healed him, taking care of the internal injuries he had sustained, but his bruises and the scrapes were still there. “Are you in pain, Magnus?” he asked weakly, fingertip brushing his bottom lip, right beside where it was split.

Magnus shook his head, smiling tiredly. “No, Darling. I’m fine. It’s just all the discoloration. I’ve healed it so there’s no pain. I’m just not strong enough to bother fixing my appearance.”

Alec smiled a little, rubbing his jaw carefully with his thumb. “You’re still beautiful.”

Magnus rolled his eyes and sighed. “Oh, Alexander. You’re such a charmer.” He grinned. “And so full of shit.”

Alec shook his head. “Nope. You’re just gorgeous.” He kissed his forehead. “You just get all the rest you need. Don’t worry about being in Idris. Nobody will hurt you, here.”

“Of course not,” Magnus said, laying his head on Alec’s shoulder. “You’re here to protect me.”

Alec held him in silence for a bit before he finally asked what he had wondered. “Do you know if Raphael…”

“He made it,” Magnus said, relief obvious in his voice. “He’s alright. His clan took a huge hit, but there’s enough of them left that they’ll manage. I convinced them to let me send fire-messages, so they’ve been letting me check in on people. He says Simon called him. He didn’t tell Raphael where they are, which was smart, and Raphael says he felt it when his clan-mates died and needed to know Raphael was safe.” He smiled sadly. “I think Raphael felt relieved to know Simon’s okay. Jocelyn, Luke, and Clary made it out of the city, since Simon was able to call Raphael. It’s probably for the best they get to safety until Valentine is stopped and stay there.”

Alec nodded. “Definitely.”

Magnus chuckled. “Also, Jace is not Jocelyn’s son.”

“Wait, what?” Alec asked, and Magnus nodded with a smirk.

“I was curious for a while. I had a sample of Jace’s hair at my house, and Valentine spit on me. I’ve been really bored in here the past day, so I summoned some things and did a little experiment.” He shook his head. “I can only imagine that Valentine murdered Michael Wayland and took his place raising Jace. He and Jocelyn did have a son, but what she said must be true. Their son died. And when her leaving while pregnant with Clary, he must’ve wanted a child to raise to be like him. So he saw the simplest route. Michael Wayland was a loner. It would be easy to become him.”

Alec nodded. “Well. That’s really sad, but at least Jace didn’t make out with his sister?” he tried, and Magnus snickered. 

“There is that.” Magnus tipped his face up and he kissed Alec’s chin. “Is he okay?” he asked, and Alec smiled.

“He’s exhausted. He’s been scared and stressed the whole time. I don’t know if Max is going to leave his side for a while. He didn’t know where Jace had gone, but now he figured out, he is pretty much attached to his hip.”

Magnus glared half-heartedly. “I don’t blame him. I’m glad I passed out when you decided to be all sacrificial, or I would’ve probably tried to drag your ass into that portal with me. You’re lucky you were already here and safe when I woke up or I would’ve, for lack of less uncouth terms, lost my shit.” He poked Alec in the chest. “Don’t you play like that, Lightwood.”

Alec caught his hand, pulling it up to kiss his fingertips before curling their hands together on his chest. “I love you so much, you know,” he said and Magnus’s annoyance melted into a big, pretty smile.

“One day, you won’t get to make me instantly carefree and happy when you say that, _you_ know,” he accused, and Alec smirked.

“Suuuure,” he said skeptically and Magnus just huffed and rolled his eyes.

“I lied, you’re not one of the good Lightwoods. You’re taking advantage of my feelings for you,” he accused.

Alec snickered. “Yep, totally.”

Magnus narrowed his eyes. “Just shut up and kiss me.” 

Alec wasted no time complying with Magnus’s request.


End file.
